Trigger points are the primary cause of pain symptoms when someone has been diagnosed with chronic myofascial pain. Myofascial discomfort, unfortunately, can look like many different medical disorders. Let’s look at the symptoms and indicators of myofascial pain before diagnosing it:
Symptoms and Signs
A concentrated spot of tenderness or discomfort that is felt when pressure is applied is a myofascial trigger point. A shooting pain along neighboring muscles, such as those that run from the back to the neck or shoulders, may also be felt when pressure is applied to a trigger point formed with a finger. To the touch, the trigger point feels like a tough tissue knot.
Myofascial discomfort, which is frequently experienced by people, is frequently described as:
- A throbbing, aching, or dull muscle pain
- A feeling of transferred pain usually characterizes soreness or numbness
Trigger points, however, can exist deep within a muscle, making them invisible to the untrained eye. For a doctor to find all myofascial trigger points that are currently active, a physical exam is frequently necessary.
A Diagnosis
If you have myofascial trigger points as your primary cause of pain, you have persistent myofascial pain. Myofascial discomfort, unfortunately, can look like many different medical disorders. Myofascial pain symptoms, for instance, could be mistakenly linked to:
- Headaches
- Arthritis
- Disorder of the temporomandibular joint (TMJD)
- Fibromyalgia
- Tooth pain
- Ear pain
- Nervosa trigeminalis
Similarly, if a patient additionally has one of the aforementioned pain-causing conditions, a medical professional can unintentionally ignore a myofascial pain diagnosis. Chronic myofascial pain problem can be challenging to diagnose due to these factors as well as the fact that myofascial pain is a disorder that is little understood.
Your doctor may ask you several questions during a physical examination to assist identify the underlying condition, such as the ones below:
- Do you have to undertake repetitive tasks as part of your profession or hobbies?
- Have you been hurt recently?
- What signs are there?
- Which parts of your body are hurting the most?
- Do symptoms worsen at particular times of the day?
- Does anything cause the symptoms to improve or worsen?
- How long did the symptoms last?
- Are the symptoms ongoing or passing through?
- What activities are restricted by symptoms?